iWorld
ZEE5 Global’s subscription revenue grows with their Festive Pack Offer
MUMBAI: In October, ZEE5 Global had rolled out a special festive offer in select global markets, offering a 50% discount on their Annual packs. The Diwali Special offer has seen a fantastic uptake across markets, with the annual pack subscriptions growing nearly three-fold over a one-month period.
ZEE5 has also seen a huge surge in revenue with the introduction of this offer, driving a whopping 20% growth in total subscription revenues over the period. The offer has seen the maximum traction from markets like the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and the UK, amongst others.
Subscribers availing of the offer now get access to over 100,000 hours of on demand content across genres, and 60+ live TV channels. From catching Bollywood’s latest hits like Jabariya Jodi and Dreamgirl, to watching some of ZEE5’s most popular Originals like Kaafir, Fitrat, and Bhram or catching up on their favorite TV shows like Kundali Bhagya or Sembaruthi, audiences now have unlimited hours of entertainment available for them to watch anytime, and on any device of their choice.
As the largest global digital platform for Indian entertainment content, ZEE5 has time and again seen a superb response to the innovative marketing and content strategies they have rolled out in various markets, be it across their multiple on-ground events and partnerships, or across their differentiated Originals and other content. The surge in the Annual pack subscriptions post this offer only underscores the huge attraction of ZEE5’s massive and constantly refreshed content library, and love for Indian content across markets.
Commenting on the same, ZEE5 Global Chief Business Officer Archana Anand said, “The festive season is a very special time when families come together, and we wanted to make this an extra special Diwali for Indians living abroad by giving them even easier access to their favourite shows and movies with such an attractive offer during this festive period. The response that we have got has been fantastic across markets and only reaffirms the huge demand for our content. We’re thrilled to have made this Diwali such a memorable one for our audiences across the globe.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
